WEAKNESSES IN 

SCREENING 

ENTRANTS INTO THE 

UNITED STATES 

Statement of Robert J. Cramer, Managing Director 

Office of Special Investigations 

 

United States General Accounting Office 

GAO Testimony

Before the Committee on Finance 

United States Senate 

For Release on Delivery 

Expected at 10:00 a.m. 

Thursday, January 30, 2003 

GAO-03-438T 
1 GAO-03-438T U.S. Border Crossings 

Mr. Chairman and Members of the Committee: 

I am here today to discuss the results of our work described in our January 30, 2003, 

Limited Official Use report to this Committee entitled Weaknesses in Screening 

Entrants into the United States (GAO-03-425R).1

 This work was completed in response 

to your request that agents of the Office of Special Investigations (OSI) attempt to enter 

the United States from Canada, Mexico and Jamaica at land, air, and sea ports of entry 

using fictitious identities and counterfeit identification documents. The purpose was to 

test whether U. S. government officials conducting inspections at the port of entry would 

detect the counterfeit identification documents. 

 

I am accompanied this morning by Ronald Malfi, Director for Investigations, and 

Assistant Director John Cooney. 

In summary, we created fictitious driver’s licenses and birth certificates using off-theshelf computer graphic software that is available to any purchaser. In addition, we 

obtained and carried credit cards in the fictitious names that were used in these tests. 

Our agents entered the United States from Canada, Mexico, and Jamaica through ports of 

entry using fictitious names and these counterfeit identification documents. Immigration 

and Naturalization Service (INS) and U.S. Customs Service officials never questioned the 

authenticity of the counterfeit documents, and our agents encountered no difficulty 

entering the country using them. On two occasions, INS officials did not ask for or 

inspect any identification documents when our agents entered the United States. On 

another occasion an agent was able to walk across a major border checkpoint and was 

not stopped or inspected by any government official. 

 

INS regulations require that all persons who arrive at a U.S. port of entry be inspected by 

a government official. A U.S. citizen traveling inside countries in the Western 

Hemisphere, such as those we visited for purposes of these tests, is not required to show 

a passport when entering the United States but is required to prove citizenship. INS 

accepts as proof of citizenship documents such as a U.S. state or federally issued birth 

 

1

 The Immigration and Naturalization Service designated our report as “Limited Official Use.” 
2 GAO-03-438T U.S. Border Crossings 

certificate or a baptismal record, and photo identification such as a driver’s license. 

However, since the law does not require that U.S. citizens present documents to prove 

citizenship when entering the United States, INS also permits travelers to establish U.S. 

citizenship by oral statements alone. 

 

U.S. Border Crossings from Canada

The first border crossing by OSI agents occurred when two of our agents entered the 

United States through a sea port of entry from Canada. On that occasion, the agents 

were not asked to show any identification. On a subsequent occasion, two agents, 

driving a rented car with Canadian plates, using fictitious names and counterfeit 

documents, crossed the border into the United States at a Canadian land border crossing. 

A U.S. Customs inspector asked for identification and was provided the counterfeit 

documents. After the inspector reviewed the documents, the agents were allowed to 

cross the border. 

During the Canadian land border crossing, the agents discovered a further potential 

security problem. A park straddles the U.S. and Canada at this border crossing. One of 

our agents was able to walk across this park into the United States from Canada without 

being stopped or questioned by any U.S. government official. Later that agent walked 

back to Canada through this park without being inspected by Canadian authorities. 

U.S. Border Crossing from Mexico

The second series of border crossings were from Mexico. On one occasion, at a land 

border crossing, an INS inspector asked our agent if he was a U.S. citizen and whether he 

had brought anything across the border from Mexico. After the agent responded that he 

was a U.S. citizen and that he was not bringing anything into the United States from 

Mexico, the inspector allowed him to proceed without requiring any proof of identity. 
3 GAO-03-438T U.S. Border Crossings 

On a subsequent occasion at the same border crossing, two of our agents were asked by 

INS inspectors for identification. Both agents presented counterfeit driver’s licenses and 

were allowed to cross into the United States. 

 

U.S. Border Crossing from Jamaica

The third set of border crossings were from Jamaica. Two of our agents traveling on 

one-way tickets from Jamaica arrived at an airport in the United States. Each agent 

presented to INS inspectors counterfeit identification documents. The INS inspectors 

did not recognize any of the documents presented as counterfeit and allowed the agents 

to enter the United States. 

Conclusion 

We recognize that weaknesses in inspection processes for entrants into the United States 

raise complex issues. We are currently performing an evaluation of those processes 

pursuant to the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996 

that will be reported to Congress in the coming months. Although INS inspects millions 

of people who enter the United States and detects thousands of individuals who attempt 

to illegally enter the United States each year, the results of our work indicate that 

(1) people who enter the United States are not always asked to present identification, 

(2) security to prevent unauthorized persons from entering the United States from 

Canada is inadequate at the border park we visited, and (3) INS inspectors are not 

readily capable of detecting counterfeit identification documents. We plan to discuss 

further with INS options for better training of inspectors in detecting counterfeit 

documents. 

Mr. Chairman, this completes my prepared statement. We will be pleased to respond to 

any questions you or other members of the Committee may have at this time. 

(601102)